The Georgia Secretary of State's office has begun an investigation into who threw more than 75,000 Fulton County voter registration cards into a trash bin.

The cards contained a voter's full name, address and Social Security number. The office says a random sampling showed many of the cards were for active voters. In a statement, Secretary of State Karen Handel said the finding quote "represents a significant and serious breach of the personal information of Fulton County voters and an outrageous violation of the trust and integrity of Fulton County's elections."

After getting a call from a resident, officials with Handel's office found more than 30 boxes of voter registration application cards, precinct cards and other documents Monday in a construction trash bin at Atlanta Technical College in southwest Atlanta.

Handel has called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the county solicitor general's office to investigate and says she will audit the county elections office. Handel says she also has asked the County Commission to warn voters that their personal information may have been exposed.
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